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Colombia

Lenten Meal Series

Lenten meal series - Colombia
_{Photo: Sean Hawkeye}

Spotlight on Colombia

Population: 46,259,000 (2010)
Literacy rate: 93%
Urban population: 75% of total population (2010)

Printable Table Tent

Download and print this table tent, designed for the Colombia meal. This table tent includes conversation starters and information about your gifts to ELCA World Hunger in action.

Placemats

Download, print and use different placemats during your Lenten meals to raise awareness about hunger, poverty and related issues.

Table Prayer

O God, you promise a world where those who now weep will laugh, those who are hungry will feast, and those who are poor and excluded will have your kingdom for their own. Include us in your great feast of life, O Lord. Amen

(Prayer adapted from 'Christian Aid," found in Harvest for the World: A Worship Anthology by Geoffrey Duncan, p. 130)

Story: Jency
In Colombia, Jency has a bright future thanks to her mother’s hard work and your generosity to ELCA World Hunger. It wasn’t long ago that Jency’s mother, Aida, and her friends were driven from their villages by guerrilla raids. Now thanks to the support of a loan, the women run a small business.
Read the full story.

Download this story as a bulletin insert.

Local Recipes

Popular foods in Colombia include sancocho (chicken stew), turmada potatoes and maduros (plantains). Try these dishes and experience a taste of Colombia.

Skip the Coffee. Feed the Hungry.

Many are familiar with the tradition of giving something up during Lent. Last year, Pastor Steve Biegner of Zion Lutheran Church in Clarence Center, N.Y., decided to add something to his Lenten tradition. For 40 days, he stopped drinking coffee. And in its place, he gave whatever money he normally spent to support ELCA World Hunger.

“What does giving up coffee have to do with my relationship with God?” Pastor Steve asked. “Nothing. But focusing on the problem of hunger does. It helps ‘enlighten my eye’ to the ongoing problem.”

He placed a large, empty pickle jar outside the sanctuary of his church and asked others to join him. Each day, members of the congregation would sacrifice their favorite morning beverage and save the money they would have spent. By Easter Sunday, the pickle jar was full of donations to help end hunger and poverty.